High-Dose Vitamin C For Cancer Today

Since the successful trial of high-dose IV vitamin C for treating three "hopeless" cancer cases in Canada, there have been over 75 scientific studies of the use of high-dose C in treating various forms and various stages of cancer. Since Linus Pauling treated 1,000 cancer patients with vitamin C in the 1970's, another 1,591 cancer patients have participated in clinical trials at hospitals and research institutions around the world, with mixed results.

Here's what scientists know about vitamin C treatment of cancer:

• Vitamin C in low doses acts as an antioxidant. Vitamin C in high doses acts in the exact opposite manner, as a pro-oxidant. High doses of vitamin C generate hydrogen peroxide inside cancer cells that destroys their DNA so that they cannot multiply. The immune system then has to "clean up" the cells which then have to be replaced by the proliferation of nearby healthy cells to achieve cure.
• "Activated" vitamin C is structurally similar to the sugar glucose. When cancer cells take up large amounts of glucose, they cannot absorb vitamin C. High sugar levels in the bloodstream reduce the effectiveness of vitamin C. Treatment with vitamin C is less successful in diabetics and in non-diabetic cancer patients who consume a high-sugar diet. The competition between sugar and vitamin C is greatest in nerve tissue, colon tissue, and kidney tissue, so these kinds of cancer are particularly susceptible to blood sugar levels.
• Dehydroascorbate, the form of vitamin C that enters cancer cells and generates the hydrogen peroxide that kills them, is very unstable in the bloodstream. Half of the dehydroascorbate in the bloodstream breaks down in just 5 to 15 minutes. This means that there has to be an almost continuous supply of vitamin C to keep up with the rapid degradation of its active form. Even the best slow-release vitamin C doesn't provide a continuous supply of vitamin C if taken orally, because of there are so many other nutrients with which it must compete for absorption. Only intravenous vitamin C enters the bloodstream slowly enough and constantly enough to have an appreciable effect on cancer.

See Also: The Top Eight Foods Rich in Vitamin C

Getting vitamin C by IV, however, seems to extend life in advanced cancer. Clinical studies of vitamin C as a treatment for cancer at earlier stages are not conduced because it is unethical to offer a treatment that may or may not work when there are treatments that will work that can be used. 

That doesn't mean, however, that vitamin C by IV couldn't help you in the earlier stages of cancer. Some of the clinical trials even find that vitamin C reduces the side effects of conventional cancer treatment and helps them work better. Vitamin C by itself will not cure cancer, but vitamin C as part of comprehensive treatment can make a real difference in length and quality of life, if taken by IV. Any compounding pharmacy can prepare IV vitamin C. Any doctor can administer it. But no oncologist will offer it to you as your only treatment.